Loom-picker.



No. 680,622. Patented Aug. I3, I901.

F. M. ROGERS &. A. A. BLAKENEY.

LOOM PIGKEB.

(Application filed Mar. 30, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES EETCEQ PATENT FRANK M; ROGERS AND ALBERT A. BLAKENEY, OF FRANKLINVILLE; MARYLAND.

LOOM-PICKER.

SZBEQIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,622, dated August 13-, 1901.

Application filed March 30, 1901. Serial No. 53,701. (No model.)

specification.

This invention relates to loom-pickers and to a novel means for uniting the picker to its staff; and the object of the invention is to provide a simple construction of the character specified wherein the removal from or adjustment of the picker on its staff is freely permitted and wherein the strength of the assembled article is increased over existing forms.

.The invention includes as one of its peculiar features a picker having a longitudinal slot to receive a bolt or like fastening device by which it can be adj ustably united to its stafi. In the present case the picker receives a bolt carried by its staff, and by removing the nut or nuts on the bolt the picker can be readily removed or quickly adjusted longitudinally on its staff by simply loosening the nut or nuts and firmly held in a desired position by tightening the same.

The invention involves certain other advantages hereinafter set forth, and its novel features will be specified in the appended claims.

In the drawings accompanying and form ing a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a loom-picker embodying our improvements and showing it attached to a staff. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the staff and picker, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a diiferent type of picker detached from its staff.

Like characters refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawings.-

The picker-staff is denoted by 3, and the picker by 4, and in Fig. 1 the latter is represented as having an extension or tailpiece 5,-

and these parts may be made from any suitable material. The picker is connected to its staff by the usual strap 6, secured to-the respective parts in some convenient manner.

The picker is joined to its staff for ready removal or for adjustment relatively thereto,

and we provide for this purpose means which when necessary permit the ready movement of the picker, but which normally serve to maintain the same firmly in place, and the construction is a simple one, yet is thoroughly strong and involves in the form represented in the drawings a bolt 7, carried in the present case by the staff, the latter having a hole to receive the same which extends entirely therethrough. The bolt also passes through the longitudinal slot 8, formed in the body of the picker and extending lengthwise thereof. The threaded end of the bolt 7 receives the holding and check nuts 9 and 10, respectively, while its opposite end has a substantially T- shaped head 12, the branches or arms of which are bent or deflected downwardly and the upper surface of which is rounded or curved, thereby dispensing with sharp angles or roughnesses. To prevent the head of the bolt from coming in contact with the picker and chafing or injuring the same, we interpose between these parts a washer, as 13, which may be of any suitable material, as leather. The inner faces of the arms of the T-shaped head 12 are somewhat curved and fit against the beveled adjacent ends let and 15 of the washer, such construction serving to prevent undue movement of the latter, and hence avoiding friction. By loosening the nuts 10 and 12 the picker is free to be slid along its staff, and when in the adjusted position may be set by tightening said nuts, which causes the T-head through its washer to bind firmly against the picker and hold it securely in place. By removing the two nuts the picker can be taken from place to substitute new leather strips for any that may be worn or for any other purpose. We may place washers, as 16 and 17, between the nuts and staff and the picker and staff, the washer 17 being located in a seat or recess, as 18, formed in the staff. In this way the picker can rigidly abut against its staff, as the outer face of the Washer 17 is approximately flush with that of the staff.

The invention may be somewhat modified within the scope of the claims.

We do not of course restrict ourselves to the shape of the picker and its staff, for these are simply matters of choice. For example,

the tailpiece or extension 5 might readily be dispensed with, as indicated in Fig. 3, as the main spirit of our invention consists of a picker having .a longitudinal slot and in loosely connecting the picker to the staff by means of the slot and bolt, as set forth. At the same time this manner of connecting the picker and the staff maintains the samefirmly in position, and it has been found from actual test that such a connection. overcomes the many inconveniences arising from the constant breaking of the picker or the separation of the picker from the staff, and it is thought the manyadvantages of such construction can be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

The picker described will reduce the cost of supplies, because it is much stronger than the ordinary picker, that is cut away on both sides to receive the leather strap or canvas loop commonly used for fastening said picker to its staff, and because the iron bolt will last very much longer than the leather strip or canvasloop referred to above. It will also increase the production of looms and necessarily decrease the cost of same for the reason that the loom will not be stopped so often to adjust or put on pickers or picker-strips.

Having described the invention, we claim- 1. A picker-staff, having'a hole, alongitudinally-slotted picker, a T-headed bolt extending through said hole and slot, the branches of the head being bent inward, a washer between the head and the picker, having bev eled faces engaged by the bent branches, and- 

